Workplace

Increasingly, organizations are realizing that they have to establish an equitable balance between the employee’s contribution to the organization and the organization’s contribution to the employee. Establishing this balance is one of the main reasons to reward and recognize employees.

Organizations that follow a strategic approach to creating this balance focus on the three main components of a reward system, which include, compensation, benefits, and recognition (Deeprose, 1994). Studies that have been conducted on the topic indicates that the most common problem in organizations today is that they miss the important component of recognition, which is the low-cost, high-return ingredient to a well-balanced reward system. A key focus of recognition is to make employees feel appreciated and valued (Sarvadi, 2005).

Research has proven that employees who get recognized tend to have higher self-esteem, more confidence, more willingness to take on new challenges, and more eagerness to be innovative (Mason, 2001). The aim of this study is to investigate whether rewards and recognition have an impact on employee motivation. A biographical and Work Motivation Questionnaire was administered to respondents (De Beer, 1987). The sample group (N= 184) consists of male and female employees on post-grade levels 5 to 12. The results of the research indicated that there is a positive relationship between rewards, recognition, and motivation.

The results also revealed that women and employees from non-white racial backgrounds experienced lower levels of rewards, recognition, and motivation. Future research on the latter issues could yield interesting insights into the different factors that motivate employees.

Notwithstanding the insights derived from the current research, results need to be interpreted with caution since a convenience sample was used, thereby restricting the generalizability to the wider population.

Data Gathering Instrument

For the purpose of this study a quantitative methodology was followed and a questionnaire was used as the measuring instrument. According to Leary (2004), the major advantages of questionnaires are that they can be administered to groups of people simultaneously, and they are less costly and less time-consuming than other measuring instruments. The data gathering techniques used included a biographical questionnaire and the Work Satisfaction and Motivation Questionnaire as set out by De Beer (1987).

Biographical Questionnaire

The biographical questionnaire was a self-developed questionnaire that incorporated the following personal information of the respondents, gender, home language, marital status, age, race, job classification, education, qualifications, job grade, and tenure.

Refer to Appendix 2.

Work Satisfaction and Motivation Questionnaire

The questionnaire as set out by De Beer (1987) incorporates the sixteen factors of Herzberg’s two-factor theory.

The questionnaire consisted of nine dimensions that impact employee satisfaction and motivation.

Refer to Appendix 3.

The Nine Dimensions of the Questionnaire

According to De Beer (1987), the nine dimensions are as follows:

1. Work content probed the respondents’ feelings about the type of work they do.
2. Payment probed respondents’ satisfaction with their salaries.
3. Promotion probed for the opportunity that the organization offers for promotion.
4. Recognition probed whether the respondent was receiving the recognition and feedback for the jobs they perform.
5. Working conditions were probed as the fifth factor and looked at the opportunity to mix with colleagues and interpersonal relations.
6. Benefits looked at whether the benefits such as a pension, medical schemes, and leave were satisfactory.
7. Personal probed the respondents’ feelings towards their job.
8. Leadership or supervision probed the level of satisfaction with the manager.
9. General probed if the respondents had considered alternative employment, and hence their level of satisfaction with the organization.

Appendix 2 Biographical Information

1. Gender Male Female
2. Home / Preferred language English Afrikaans Xhosa Other
3. Marital Status Single Married Divorced Widowed
4. Age Under 20 years 21 –30 years 31 – 40 years 41 – 50 years 51 – 60 years 61 years & older
5. Race African Asian Colored White
6. Job Classification Specialist Line Manager Clerical/ Administration If you are unsure which category, please state your occupation:
7. Educational Qualification < Std 8 Matric Diploma Degree Masters Other (Please specify)
8. Job Grade PG 9 PG 10 PG 11 PG 12 PG 13 PG 14 PG 15
9. How long have you been employed at this company? Less than 1 year 1 year – 5 years 6 years – 10 years 11 years – 15 years 16 years – 20 years 21 years or longer

Appendix 3 Work Satisfaction and Motivation Questionnaire

1. Introduction

It is fairly obvious that people differ from one another in what they need and expect to get from different areas of their lives. Please think about the work you do and because most jobs are not perfect, consider what would make it better from your point of view.

2. Method for Answering Questions

With each question, you have a choice of three answers.

Choose one of the following: TRUE = T NOT SURE = NS UNTRUE = U Mark your answers with a cross (X).

Please check to make sure that you have not missed any questions.

Developing yourself-important skills for the workplace today Nowadays employers are looking for people with analytical reasoning skills, communication skills and creativity. But why, this is an obvious problem. Because all employers want their companies or enterprises can better develop. They do not want to hire people who do not have competence to destroy their company. However these above skills are important for the companies and enterprises. The following is an analysis by why employers look for people with these skills.

First is the analytical reasoning skills, it is deals with your ability to assess a situation, seek multiple perspectives, gather more information, and identify key issues that need to be addressed. Highly analytical reasoning thinking with demonstrated talent for identifying, improving, and streamlining complex work processes. The world values people who have good analytical skills, who can see the big picture from the details, and who can think in terms of multi-disciplinary combinations.

According to Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, it’s “interdisciplinary combinations – design and technology, mathematics and art – that produce YouTube and Google. ” In this age of overflowing information, in which the number of words on the Internet is close to surpassing the total number of words spoken in the history of humanity, we must know how to analyze and deal with information; to know what are good sources of information, to be able to access it and use discrimination to make effective use of it.

As a whole, analytical ability is an important skill which the college students or professionals must develop in order to achieve the success in the workplace. For example if you want to buy an air conditioner. You analyze the air conditioner itself, is it a good brand, is it present technology, and what about compare to other present technologies. So what about your decision? And than you analyze the financial impact, do you have money for it, do you use cash or credit for it? After that you analyze do you home have a place to put it? So you look at all point of view of the same situation.

If you want to be analytical, you have to weigh up your selection, think about them before you act, and not act on first impulse about much of anything. Second is the communication skills, Communication is the heart of every organization. Everything you do in the workplace results from communication. Thereby good reading, writing, speaking and listening skills are essential if tasks are going to be completed and goals achieved. As you develop your career you will find various reasons why successful communication skills are important to you. Shirley Taylor, March 11, 2009). Why it is important to you, because you will get a lot of benefits, for example: you will need good communication skills to make sure your application letter is fluency and acted upon. You will need to communicate perfect during your interview if you are to sell yourself and get the job you want. You will need to discuss problems, give instructions, work in teams, and interact with colleagues and clients. If you want to achieve co-operation and effective teamwork, good human relations skills are essential.

As the workplace is also becoming more global, there are many factors to consider if you want to communicate well in such a diverse environment. The most successful corporation understands that if they want to be successful in today’s business world, good communication at all levels is essential. Today’s workplace is constantly changing, so learning more about effective communication will help us all adapt to our changing environments. (Shirley Taylor, March 11, 2009). Last but not the least, it is the creativity. “A man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage. (Sir Walter Besant). Some researchers define creativity as combining existing elements in an innovative way to create a new purpose or result. But others see creativity as the ability to generate new ideas from looking at how things are related. The book keys to success (2009, p. 110-111). Creativity is one of the most important things in the world because if each person did not have creativity then everything the same. Each person has there own type of creativity and that is why there are unique art, movies, clothing, etc. And then let’s talk about how we can develop these important skills while in college.

Some suggest about analytical skills: I think to open teacher-student relationship helps the student become a good advice. It’s difficult for the student to do this if he is not engaged or open to what the teacher has to say. And the other method is learning how to question. Everyone knows how to question. It is part of what makes us human- we meet new people and ask them where they come from, what they do for a job, whether they are married. However, as you studies progress you will find that you need to think more deeply about how you question and type of questions that you ask.

About communication skills there are some tips for improving your communication style. Adjust to the other styles of communication. Don’t think it is too late to change your way of conversing because it’s been years. You had to learn to communicate in the first place and you can unlearn certain behaviors or change them. Sometimes we get stuck in a communication rut. (Peter Murphy, 2007). Don’t pick on others for communicating differently. If we all communicated in the same way, we’d soon be bored with each other. (Peter Murphy, 2007).

Last is about how to develop creativity. Brainstorming is also referred to as divergent thinking: you start with a question and then let your mind diverge-go in many different directions-in searches of solutions. Brainstorming is deliberate creativity thinking. When you Brainstorm, try to generate ideas without thinking about how useful they are; evaluate their quality later. Brainstorming works well in groups because group members can become inspired by, and make creativity use of, one another’s ideas. The book keys to success (2009 p. 111).

Introduction

The nature of work is altering at whirlwind velocity. Job emphasis is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the demands of the occupation do non fit the capablenesss, resources, or demands of the worker harmonizing to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH ). This type of emphasis can take to hapless wellness and hurt. Stress is a misfit between a worker ‘s demands and capablenesss, and what the workplace offers and demands. The National Health and Safety Commission ( NOHSC ) identified emphasis as the most important psychological jeopardy in the workplace, impacting both mental and physical wellbeing of people. Work-related emphasis is the natural reaction of people to being put under intense force per unit area at work over a period of clip. Some people are motivated by the challenges that their occupation demands and when get the better ofing those challenges there is a sense of relaxation and achievement. It is when the force per unit area of work demands becomes utmost and stretched out, that people see that there is a menace to their well-being or involvements and that is so they start to be subjected to unpleasant emotions such as fright, choler or anxiousness. Stress is non a disease or hurt, but it can take to mental and physical ailment wellness. Stress is one of the major OHS issues facing workers in Australian workplaces. The ACTU conducted a study in 1997 receiving over 12,000 responses that showed:

• One in four people took clip off due to emphasize at work.
• The most nerve-racking conditions at work reported were direction issues including deficiency of communicating and audience ; increased work load ; organisational alteration and restructuring ; and occupation insecurity.
• A scope of symptoms including concerns, continual fatigue, choler, and wakefulness.
• Over half of the respondents nominated better direction, including more communicating and audience, as a solution to emphasize at work. Other solutions included less workload, public presentation monitoring, better work organisation, more preparation, occupation security, and better calling chances.

Stressors are events or fortunes that lead to person feeling that physical or psychological demands are about to transcend his or her ability to get by. There are legion types of stressors. These stressors can be because of the type of occupation such as displacement work and menace of force. Another stressor can originate because of the manner the occupation is organized, this can include physical factors (inordinate heat, cold, noise ) and physiological factors that can impact the organic structure ‘s balance ( shift work, unequal restorative clip, etc.). Stressors can look because of the unrealistic deadlines because inordinate work demands. They can besides develop because of personal factors (wellness position, relationships, get bying with hard state of affairs).

Signs and Symptoms

Stress is a complex issue and no two persons will be affected in the same manner. Stress can be thought of as a “bucket” theoretical account. The pail theoretical account suggests that emphasis and weariness consequence when a individual ‘s reservoir of personal resiliency is drained faster than it is replenished. Interesting work, supportive relationships, and good wellness make full the pail, and hard on the job conditions, emotionally run outing work, extra work, and troubles at place can run out the pail. Some marks and symptoms that one needs to watch out for if they start to experience stressed is that employees feel dying and their bosom rate velocities up because of the deficiency of control over the work load sums. There are physical, psychological and behavioural symptoms that directors or anyone in control of the organization needs to be cognizant of. The physical symptoms include concerns, tummy jobs, eating upsets, sleep perturbations, weariness, and chronic mild unwellness. The psychological and behavioural symptoms include anxiousness, crossness, low morale, depression, intoxicant and drug usage, and isolation from colleagues. If employees are exposed to these stressors for long periods of clip they can turn into chronic wellness jobs. The physical conditions can progress into high blood force per unit area, bosom disease, shot, diabetes, asthma, and immune system disfunction. The psychological and behavioural symptoms can come on to serious depression, self-destructive behaviour, domestic force, intoxicant and substance maltreatment and burnout.

Sources/Causes of Job Stress

Harmonizing to Aetna, there is one school of idea, differences in single features such as personality and get bying with manner are the most of import in foretelling whether certain occupation conditions will ensue in emphasis – in other words, what is nerve-racking for one individual may non be a job for person else. There are different occupation conditions that may take to emphasize. These occupation conditions include design of undertakings, direction manner, interpersonal relationships, work functions, calling concerns, and environmental conditions. The design of the undertaking is anything that provides small sense of control to the employee, heavy workload, and long work hours, feverish and everyday undertakings that have small built-in significance. Another occupation status that leads to emphasis is the manner of direction. The direction manner could be due to hapless communicating in the organization, deficiency of family-friendly policies, and a deficiency of engagement by workers in determination devising. Interpersonal relationship can do an employee emphasis because of the undermentioned possible factors: a hapless societal environment and a deficiency of support from coworkers and supervisors. Having excessively many work functions is another occupation status that could do an employee emphasis. This can go on when the employee is have oning excessively many chapeaus, holding excessively much duty, or unsure occupation outlooks. Another occupation status that can do emphasis to an employee is career concerns. The deficiency of occupation insecurity, chance for growing, or rapid alterations in which the workers are unprepared. The last occupation status that can do emphasis is the environment. The environmental conditions such as crowding, noise, air pollution or ergonomic jobs are conditions that human resource is traveling to hold to take into consideration. The causes of emphasis ( frequently called stressors ) can be many and varied and can happen as a consequence of combinations of more than one stressor. The PEF have a list of other stressors that can do emphasized. They include engaging freezings ; contingent work (part-time or impermanent ), quality plans and these can take to emphasize. These include non-existent calling ladders, high demands, work load, clip force per unit areas, understaffing and violence/harassment.

Short-run emphasis may do a individual cognizant of being challenged and motivated. This is “some emphasis is good for you” consequence. Prolonged consciousness of non get bying can take to harm for both the individual and the organization. This can ensue in immediate safety jobs, depression, burnout, bosom disease, and self-abusive behaviours ( such as intoxicant ).

Stress From Making the Job

Most stressors can be grouped into one of three countries; emphasis from making the occupation, emphasis from work relationships, and emphasis from working conditions. Stress from making the occupation can be attributed to insistent work, excessively much to make with excessively small clip, excessively much or non adequate preparation, demotion, confusion of precedence, and excessively much duty. Poor colleague relationships, favoritism, deficiency of communicating between employer and employee, and negative civilization can be the beginning for emphasis from work relationships. Stress from working conditions can be rooted in the physical danger or the menace of the occupation, hapless physical working conditions, restructuring, and inflexible work agendas or fickle hours.

Job Stress and Health

Job emphasis poses a menace to wellness of workers and to wellness organizations. There are possible wellness jobs that if exposed to excessively much emphasis can increase the hazard. The early warning marks that one possibly sing excessively much emphasis. These marks are concerns, sleep perturbations, trouble concentrating, short pique, disquieted tummy, occupation dissatisfaction, and low morale. If these early warning marks go unnoticed so there are more serious jobs that can originate. These jobs include cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal upsets, psychological upsets, workplace hurt, self-destruction, malignant neoplastic disease, ulcers, and impaired immune map. As degrees of emphasis addition, so excessively can consumption of intoxicant, coffin nails and prescription/non-prescription drugs.

What Can Be Done About Job Stress

There are some different attacks for covering with emphasis. They are stress direction and organizational alteration. With stress direction there are plans that teach workers about the nature and beginnings of emphasis, the effects of emphasis on wellness, and personal accomplishments to cut down emphasis. Employee aid plans ( EAP ) are initiated to better the ability of workers to get by with hard work state of affairss. EAP ‘s provide single guidance for employees with both work and personal jobs. Stress direction preparation could significantly cut down emphasis symptoms and is cheap to implement. Stress direction has two disadvantages: the good effects on emphasis symptoms are frequently ephemeral; they frequently ignore of import root causes of emphasis because they focus on the worker and non the environment. The 2nd attack for covering with emphasis is organisational alteration. This attack is the most direct manner to cut down emphasis at work. It encompasses the designation of nerve-racking facets of work and plan schemes to cut down or extinguish the recognized stressors. The advantage of this attack is that it deals straight with the root causes of emphasis at work. This attack can be slippery for directors because it means altering work or production agendas, or alterations in the construction of the organisation. As a general regulation, actions to cut down occupation emphasis should give top precedence to organisational alteration to better working conditions. The practical attack to covering with job-related emphasis is to unite organisational alteration and emphasis direction to forestall emphasis at work.

Pull offing jobs around emphasis and weariness requires the same accomplishments and behaviours as pull offing any other employment relationship jobs:

• The parties need to pass on, work together, and happen a solution that both find satisfactory ;
• Deal with jobs before they escalate ;
• Make sure that you have all the facts, speak the issue through with the all involved, and place the implicit in job ;
• Have a 3rd party nowadays so that they could assist do certain that all issues are understood by both parties and all likely solutions are taken into history ;
• Employers who need aid can confer with an Employers ‘ Organization.

What Laws Apply

Stress becomes occupational jeopardy if it adversely impacts on safety and wellness in the workplace. Employers have a responsibility to supply safe systems of work, information, preparation and supervising and to confer with and collaborate with employees. Employees have a responsibility to take sensible attention of themselves in the workplace and to collaborate with the employer on safety and wellness affairs. Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 requires employers, were operable, to follow a systematic attack to identifying, measuring and commanding jeopardies at work; employers should place factors in the workplace that cause emphasis, reexamine the likeliness that the emphasis would do hurt or disease, and if the hazards are important they should set controls in topographic point to minimize emphasis.

How Are the Risks Arising From Stress Assessed

As of today, there is no nonsubjective manner to mensurate the degrees of emphasis in the workplace, but there are advisers that can mensurate the beginnings of emphasis and set into topographic point subjective steps for the workplace. These solutions will differ based on the size and elaborateness of the organization, resources available, and the different types of emphasis faced within that organization. Minimizing emphasis can be cheap. The employer, chief contractor, freelance individual, or anyone with control in the work topographic point, it is their duty of measuring the sum of emphasis within an organization. This involves taking action to forestall turning force per unit area in the workplace, placing force per unit areas that could do high, durable degrees of emphasis, placing those that might be affected by these force per unit areas, and make up one’s minding whether to take preventive action to forestall turning force per unit area. It is of import that there is early intercession if the emphasis is identified.

Strategies for Solutions

If the company is in a brotherhood so employers need to acquire the affected members to work together with brotherhood representatives to turn to the ground ( s ) for job-related emphasis. The first thing that needs to go on is that the job needs to be documented that includes worker studies, jeopardy function, analyzing bing employer information such as hurt and illness logs or tracking staffing forms. If direction coaction is possible, the brotherhood, affected worker, and direction can come together to place cardinal stressors and develop plans to cut down emphasis. This is normally done through wellness and safety and labor/management commissions, preparation and educational plans. Schemes may include affecting workers in the occupation and workplace design, holding input on displacement agendas, and/or developing a workplace force bar policy or plan. If direction is non collaborating, the brotherhood can execute its ain run by keeping equal group meetings, registering mass grudges, or prosecute in public consciousness run.

Directors ‘ and Employers ‘ Responsibilities

As a director and employer, you have certain duties and have a responsibility to look after your ain wellness every bit good as the wellness of your employees. The Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) suggests that you carry out a hazard appraisal to happen out whether you are making plenty to forestall emphasis, and has identified seven factors for measuring work-related emphasis jeopardies:

1. Culture of the organisations,
2. Demands such as work load and exposure to physical jeopardies,
3. How much control people have over the manner they work,
4. Relationships,
5. How organisational alteration is managed and communicated,
6. Whether the single understands their function in the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the individual does non hold conflicting functions, and
7. Support and preparation from equals and line direction for the individual to be able to set about the nucleus maps of their occupation.

Decision

Stress can impact everyone. Work organizations need to develop a workplace civilization that recognizes that occupation satisfaction factors such as flexibleness, liberty, security, acknowledgment, ownership, engagement, and engagement are every bit indispensable as stable industrial dealings. Employers in such organisations should hold no uncertainty that wellness, safety, security, and morale are inextricably linked to employee satisfaction, productiveness, and client satisfaction. Stress should non be portion of a occupation to the extent that it causes physical or mental unwellness. The solution is good direction on both sides.

Organizations face a huge challenge in improving employee’s performance and providing excellent products and services to their customers. Therefore highly motivated employees are key assets to the organization. There are real costs and business failures will incur for the organisations if they fail to motivate their employees effectively. This report is based on the study carried out by three team members of a Technical Services Department of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. This study involved in evaluating those motivation levels by using relevant motivation factors that could have been affecting their performance and outcome.

This study outlined those important of motivational factors and levels using the expectancy theory model and job characteristic model. The report explores factors affecting the strength of the link between effort and performance and the link between performance and rewards/outcomes. This reports attempt to measure individual’s motivational levels and their performance. Further, this report addresses the ways of increasing the intrinsic rewards using the job characteristics model and expectancy theory model. There are different values and choices of rewards available and this can be negative and positive.

But this will be depending on every individual’s effort and performance. This study of this report to evaluate the motivation levels of individuals within a team. The study involves analysing relationship between effort, performance and rewards for each individual within the team. This report is based on the expectancy theory model and applying the job characteristics model. The models suggest that in general people are motivated if job provides them with rewards or incentives. However giving people reward may not increase individual’s effort and increased effort may not provide them positive performance.

In order to improve an individual’s motivation at workplace, the expectancy theory suggests considering the three distinct factors. They are the link between effort and performance; link between performance and rewards/costs and the value and choices these rewards available. The expectancy theory suggests that individual have different goals, skills, knowledge and abilities. But they can only be motivated if there is a positive connection between effort and performance, thus effort will lead to performance and good performance will perceive to desirable reward.

These rewards could be intrinsic and extrinsic. This theory also refers to intrinsic rewards directly resulted from their work itself and these rewards are not given by others. On the other hand, extrinsic rewards are those given by others such as bonuses, performance-related pay, promotion and recognition. The associated outcomes or rewards can be different i. e. positive, negative, stronger and weaker. Therefore, it is important to outweigh the cost and benefits of these outcomes. This is because; individual effort may vary from every other individuals.

Expectancy theory refers to the fact employees have different expectations and levels of confidence about what they are capable of doing. Hence, organisation must try to discover what resources, training, or supervision employees need and provide them with what they need.

Critically evaluate the significance of pleasure in the contemporary workplace. To what extent is pleasure a benign product of managerial discipline and organisation? The aim of this essay is present the reader with an analysis of the concept of pleasure with particular reference to how it relates to the workplace. The first half of the analysis provides an assessment of its significance, addressing issues surrounding consumerism and capitalism. The second section moves on to consider pleasure more specifically in relation to the management realm of HRM and consultancy as exercised through organizational culture, control, discipline and regulation. The evaluation is based on a reflexive culmination of various readings which are open to individual interpretation and cannot be imposed on the reader.

Pleasure encompasses a number of ideas, and is often expressed in terms of gratification (often sensual or sexual), contentment, delight and fantasy. The New Oxford English dictionary defines it as ‘a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment.’  Pleasure is rarely associated with things done out of necessity, whereas work is widely regarded as necessary, and this is why the concept of pleasure in the workplace may be seen as something of an oxymoron.

A broader view would suggest that work itself can create pleasure. Often this is seen in terms of the salary we receive, giving us the means to an end, where we are free to spend our wages on more fulfilling, gratifying and indeed pleasurable activities and items. One must question if pleasure takes on a significance of its own within the fabric of the workplace, and furthermore, if it is produced through the tasks that encompass, structure and discipline our working lives. This essay encompasses a debate around such questions and issues.

Burrell highlighted three faces of pleasure. The first face offers help for those in charge of managing an organisation, where pleasure encompasses a reservoir of potential energy to be channelled, shaped and directed in the service of corporate goals . The second face offers an escape from reality and the acquisition of ‘joyous serenity’ , a notion which will be is expanded in discussions surrounding consumerism. The third face is reflected in the tradition of political liberation , where the pleasure principle is placed in the foreground.

This can be shown in capitalism where free market ideology is believed to lead to prosperity and liberation. In this essay the analysis will focus on these interrelated and interdependent faces, with particular reference to the first face. It will be shown that pleasure is of significance in the contemporary workplace, and that it is both a product and a producer of control and discipline within the organization. Relationship between work and pleasure ‘Work is compulsory production, something done for some other reason than the satisfaction of doing it. When we work we produce without pleasure so as to consume without creating – containers drained and filled, drained and filled, like the locks of a canal.Work devalues life by appropriating something so priceless it cannot be bought back no matter how high the GNP is.’

This quote describes the commonly held view that one does not normally associate pleasure with work. ‘Thank God its Friday’, ‘I hate Monday mornings’ and ‘live for the weekend’ are common expressions, relating time, space and emotions to working life. The workplace is commonly viewed as a place of monotony, drudgery and unavoidable suffering. Reality has been socially constructed  to divorce ourselves from pleasure at work; instead we look forward to the weekend and ‘free time’, which offers a temporary release from the shackles of working. In the novel Nice Work (Knights and Willmott, 1999), Vic, the factory manager defends the point that work is not his life, that the two are separate, despite harboring the feeling that he is consumed by it (a point which we will return to later). He firmly holds the moral principle that the workplace is a place where pleasures should not intrude, but ironically has an affair with one of his employees. This serves to illustrate the irrationality, subjectivity and (lack of) control that encompass the dynamics of pleasure.

Braverman’s Labour Process Theory  demonstrates how modern day working practices stifle and suppress creativity (one could say pleasure). The heralding of Scientific Management  saw the extraction of pleasure from work. Consequently, workers distance themselves from their work and often view their job as a means to more meaningful ends. The ever-increasing intensity of work practices have led many workers to look for a ‘vent’ within the confines of the office walls, where they can exert their own sense of identity, equality, security, and power (all of which are sources of pleasure) by ‘playing’ the organizational system.

Pleasure is a positive emotion but can be derived from other people’s misfortunes (the pleasure-pain principle), such as when a colleague may be dismissed and one feels relief in knowing that their job has been spared. Pleasure can also be produced through resistance, breaking away from the rules and norms, such as turning up late to work, but organizational rules and regulation serve to placate such undesirable behaviour, an issue that will be discussed later.

Conversely, those in a position of authority can also derive pleasure by using their power to control others, such as reprimanding a deviant employee. Such actions are way of fulfilling deeper psychological needs which ties into the concept of pleasure. Informal social networks, office gossip, banter and even office romances have become ingrained in the day-to-day fabric of the office culture. Such occurrences offer pleasure and excitement for workers in even the most dead-end jobs . Orlov  refers to the workplace as ‘a big aphrodisiac’ and Overman  reports that 80% of all workers have been involved in office romance during employment.

One can question if such pleasures hold any value in the workplace? On the one hand it can be argued that they provide employees with a source of energy to make it through the days work (Black, 1992). The opposing view is that such emotions should be discouraged by the organization as they only serve as unnecessary distractions, leading employees to lose focus of their work, reducing overall organizational efficiency .

This latter view was shared by Vic in Nice Work, who felt business should not be mixed with pleasure (despite his relationship with Robyn), and demonstrates how instrumental rationality within bureaucracy can be defined by its opposition to emotionality. Thompson and Mchug  conclude that ’employees feelings are suppressed, denied or appropriated by the organization for its own instrumental ends’.

My personal experience of the world of work have led me to the conclusion that too often we look for pleasure attached to a price tag, as something we can possess and HAVE rather than a part of ourselves, our very BEING . Whilst working at an Investment Bank, the demarcation between work and play was very obviously drawn out. The ‘dress down day’ was introduced but was later abandoned as complaints of staff slipping out of professional roles and into the weekend mode. It seemed the organization was stuck in a trap of mixed signals and anarchy, confusion, almost psychotic!

Burn out was common and people were seen as resources to be drained to the very last drop. The culture was one of ‘work hard, play hard.’ However, the healthy paycheck was always welcomed, and living in the heart of London, there seemed no end to the pleasure possibilities. I came to view my work as a means to a more meaningful end. We live in a society where pleasure has come to be seen as a commodity (Bauman, 1998) that promotes consumerism and fuels related industries, such as tourism, leisure, retail and other service sectors (Burrell’s second face).

Consequently it can be argued that managerial discipline and organization serve to placate pleasure within the workplace, and thus produce the desire for it to be ‘made available’ outside the confines of the office walls. However, Vaknin (2003) argues that societies that maintain the distinction between (hated) work and (liberating) leisure are doomed to perish, as they would have failed to develop a class of workaholics large enough to create, sustain and expand capitalism. It is argued that employees are unwilling to psychologically commit themselves to their workplace in order to protect themselves from the pain associated with failure, redundancy etc. Consequently, instilling pleasure into the workplace can serve as a mechanism to blur the boundary between work and leisure so that employees are unconsciously lured and seduced into committing to the organization.

Vaknin (2003) claims that historically, people went to work out of necessity, and all the rest was seen as ‘pleasure.’ However, the historical difference between work and leisure has been blurred, and some have begun to find enjoyment in their work, so much so that it fulfills for them the functions normally reserved to leisure time. They are the workaholics, who identify business with pleasure and are the embodiments of the pleasure principle.

Furthermore, some come to develop an over dependence on work, such as Vic in the novel ‘Nice Work.’ He feels it is the only thing that he is any good at, and derives a sense of identity and security through it. In this sense work acts as a source of satisfaction and need fulfillment, and organizations can, and often do play on these psychological needs by creating an organizational culture which links into business strategy. Thus the work-leisure boundary has started to merge, rendering the endless possibility of organizational gains for management by tapping into the human resources pool of pleasure. Following from the analysis it seems clear that pleasure is a key ingredient in the contemporary workplace looking to drive the economy forward. The HRM movement signals a response to such claims.

Workplace ethics Conduct Internet research on a selected business topic. Take notes on Internet research. For this project, you will conduct Internet research on a productive business skills topic of your choice from the following list: teamwork and collaboration; time management; conflict resolution; workplace ethics; professional dress and grooming; effective speaking and presentation skills.

Each of the following parts of this project will help you use the skills you have learned in this unit to complete a well-written report on the business skill you have selected. Part 1: For this section of the project, you will select your topic and begin to conduct Internet research related to this topic. You should review a minimum of three sources for this project. Take notes on each source using the following points as a guide: Source (title and URL) Summary of the information How do you know this source is credible?

Part 2: Using your notes, write a five-paragraph (minimum) essay about your selected business skills topic. You must incorporate references from the research you did (remember to cite your sources). Be sure to organize your ideas logically and equentially, including a compelling introduction and a summarizing conclusion. Part 3: You will read and review one of your classmate’s reports and give constructive feedback on their report.

You should identify what they have done well as well as give suggestions for improvement. Remember the components of effective feedback you learned in Chapter 2. Question #1 Essay Download g_bcsl au01 p14d. rtf Upload Answer File Max File Size : IOMB Accepted File Type : [csv, doc, docx, pdf, xls, xlsx, txt, rtf, ppt, pptx, odf, odt, ods, odp, mdb, accdb, pub, Jpg, Jpeg] File Actions NO File workplace ethics By Jinksauce300

Running head: SEVEN MAJOR CHANGES IN THE WORKPLACE Seven Major Changes in the Workplace Seven Major Changes in the Workplace With the ever-growing population and technological changes many employers are going to have to adapt. Robert Barner highlights seven major changes that will affect the places where we work, both for the employer and employee (Kreitner, 2004, p. 76).

The seven major changes are (1) The virtual organization (2) The just-in-time workforce (3) The ascendancy of knowledge workers (4) Computerized coaching and electronic monitoring (5) The growth of worker diversity (6) The aging workforce and (7) The birth of the dynamic workforce (Kreitner, p. 76). I will discuss how these seven changes major changes will affect the managers at my company, Blake Inc. The Virtual Organization We are living in a time where technology is in the forefront. Things are constantly changing and companies must be able to keep up with it.

Right now in my company my managers are scrambling to keep up with the constantly changing technological world. Managers are now being set up with access to their computers from home. So if they are unable to come in to work or need to leave early they can still communicate with us. They can do everything from home that they can do at the office. They are also working on a plan, in case of an emergency or the office building is no longer usable that we can set up shop somewhere else within 48 hours.

My manager is also setting up a web site that will be accessible by all employees to get update information concerning the company, such as business decisions, software help and 24 hour technical support. The Just-In-Time Workforce At Blake we are aligned with Temp Agencies that are able to supply us with workers at a moments notice. My managers know that must be able to meet high demands. They also set up incentives for employees wishing to put in extra work.

They understand that is better to have people who know the business to do the work rather than a temp who really has no interest or knowledge in the company. The Ascendancy of Knowledge Workers Now more than ever it is important that companies hire very knowledgeable people. My managers are now trying to hire more people with a technical or analytical background to help with reports and other information needed by employees. Employees must know what they want and what they need so that they can effectively communicate this to the technical staff.

Also, the managers at Blake must be able to step up and jump in when needed. This means they must know their job and all aspects of the company. The managers must know the responsibilities of each of their employees and make sure that their employees are knowledgeable as well. We have recently been asked to create a manual entailing our job responsibilities so that if something happens someone else will have knowledge of what we do. Computerized Coaching and Electronic Monitoring Being an internet-based company all employees has access to a wealth of information through the intranet.

From the intranet you can look up other employees, find customer information such as contracts and orders placed, to information on employee benefits. At Blake employees just found out that their internet access was truly being monitored. Upon finding this out Managers took away internet access from all employees in which it is not a job necessity. This did not go well with employees as they felt as though their privacy was being invaded. As a supervisor I had to make sure that my employees had access to the websites they needed but nothing more. Employees feel that they are not trusted and treated like babies.

Managers at Blake must be careful not to alienate employees in order to try and gain more efficiency. The Growth of Worker Diversity Blake employs a very diversified group of people. In fact some employees can barely speak English well. At times it gets kind of hard to understand them. My Managers must work hard not to alienate any one group of people. Every employee must be given the same chance to excel. They also must be proactive in learning about each group’s backgrounds and or culture as to not offend anyone. Managers at Blake are becoming more understanding o different beliefs and cultures and do not punish people for partaking (taking a day off) in these beliefs. The Aging Workforce Managers at Blake encourage continuing education. In fact anyone who wishes to go to school can do so for free, it is mentioned on our website how they will provide up to $50,000 for each employee towards their education. Education is encouraged whether you are young or old. Managers really respect the older employees because the hold so much knowledge and experience, so they must be careful not to quickly replace them with a younger face.

It is important to have a good mix, as not all young college grads are a good fit as not all older people are. The Birth of the Dynamic Workforce Blake managers must work to be more encouraging. They will have to be able to motivate employees and encourage cross training. Employees must be able to help out in other departments when needed. Slow times in one department may mean a chaotic time in another. Being able to meet the demands in the high productivity department and use workers from the slow department can decrease cost.

Managers must be able to think ahead in order to keep up with competition and stay ahead of the game. Blake is a pretty good company to work for but has been behind the times for a while. My managers are proactively trying to keep up with industry standards. This has caused a lot of revamping and the recruiting of more knowledgeable employees. Blake Managers understand that if they want to stay in business they must come to terms with the changes in the 21st century. Reference Kreitner, R. (2004). Management (9th ed. ). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.